Iowa Kickers Pushing Each Other for Improvement

Aaron Blom, Drew Stevens Competing to Replace Caleb Shudak

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Aaron Blom wants to become a surgeon.

“I don’t know what type,” he said. “But I know I want to work with my hands.”

It’s his right foot that has been getting plenty of attention these days. The sophomore from Oskaloosa is competing with Drew Stevens to become Iowa’s starting placekicker.

“We’re pushing each other as hard as we can,” said Stevens, a freshman from North Augusta, S.C. “We’re trying to make each other one percent better every day. I’d say it’s going pretty well.”

Special teams coordinator LeVar Woods said the competition is tight.

“I like them both,” he said. “I think they both can play. Both need an opportunity, and experience.”

This is the first time since 2016 that Woods has no one in his room with on-field placekicking experience. Freshman Keith Duncan won the job that year, making nine of 11 field goals and 38 of 39 point-after kicks. That included a last-second 33-yarder to beat No. 2 Michigan at Kinnick Stadium, 14-13.

Duncan spent the next two seasons on the sidelines as Miguel Recinos held down the job. But Duncan returned in 2019 and was a consensus all-American and the Big Ten’s Bakken-Anderson Kicker of the Year. He was a second-team all-American in 2020 and finished with 20 career field goals of 40 yards or longer, the most in program history.

So are Blom or Stevens the next Duncan?

“Neither one of these guys has kicked in a game in college,” Woods said. “It is what it is. Both guys are capable, or they wouldn’t be here.”

Woods even threw out the possibility of a split-duty type of situation. That last happened in 2016, when Recinos was brought in for three long-distance attempts that season. Blom and Stevens are also competing for kickoff duties.

Iowa’s place kicking has been outstanding since 2010, when Mike Meyer started a four-year run as the Hawkeyes’ No. 1 man. He was followed by Marshall Koehn for two seasons, Duncan, Recinos for two seasons, Duncan for the next two seasons and then Caleb Shudak in 2021. Iowa kickers have made 194 of 247 field goals (.785 percent) since 2010.

“I like to put myself in situations to challenge myself and become better in everything I do,” Blom said. “That’s why I picked medicine as a potential career.”

Blom looked up to the late Tyler Sash growing up in Oskaloosa. That’s where Sash was a prep sports legend before taking his talents to Iowa. Sash’s father, Mike, was Blom’s middle school track coach and physical education teacher.

“Tyler was a huge part of Oskaloosa football, and definitely helped create the culture we have now,’ Blom said. “I grew up looking up to him. Knowing him helped me know a little bit about the Iowa program.”

A four-year letterman at Oskaloosa, Blom made 24 of 25 PATs and six of seven field goals as a senior. His team reached the playoffs all four seasons, and he finished as the Indians’ record holder for longest field goal, field goals in a season and a career, most consecutive PATs, and most PATs in a season and a career.

Now he’s walked on at Iowa, looking for a chance to show what he can do at the college level.

“I’m trying to be as consistent as I can,” Blom said. “Accuracy is the No.1 trait for a kicker.”

He said the competition with Stevens has been good for him.

“I think it brings out the best in me,” he said. “If there’s no competition, it’s super easy to get complacent and not be the best player you can be.”

Stevens, named the first-team Class 4A all-state kicker by the South Carolina Coaches Association as a senior, enrolled for the 2022 spring semester and took part in spring practice.

He left North Augusta with school records for career field goals (16), longest field goal (51 yards), most field goals of 40-plus yards (six), career field-goal percentage (.730), and touchbacks in a season (49) and career (57).

Stevens doesn’t seem bothered by the prospect of kicking a ball in front of a sold-out crowd.

“You just walk out, kick the ball and forget who is watching,” he said. “It’s the same thing whether it’s practice, in a game, a high school game, whatever. At the end of the day you're just kicking a football. I try to think of it that way.”

Stevens is relying on self-confidence to win the job.

“Honestly, if I have one thing that will give me confidence to win this job, I know I’m a good kicker,” Stevens said. “He’s a good kicker, too. I feel like the coach would be confident putting either one of us out there. We’re both exceptional kickers and we’re here for a reason.”

Stevens, like Blom, is a walk-on. A finance major, he said Iowa’s reputation for taking the student in student-athlete seriously, as well as a history of turning walk-ons into Division I players, is why he decided to come.

“It’s Walk-on U., where people come to turn into 5 stars rather than come in as 5 stars,” Stevens said. “It’s a great developmental school.”

For now, Stevens is giving 100 percent to receive one percent.

“I’m trying to get one percent better each day,” he said. “If you’re getting better every single day, and concentrate on that, things will work out.”

Blom and Stevens struggled with accuracy, and the wind inside Kinnick Stadium, during the spring game.

“I had two kicks from the same hashmark, and one kick went off to the right and got pushed by the wind,” Blom said. “And then I didn’t adjust for the next kick. So I definitely learned to just trust my lines, and trust myself to make the right adjustments instead of sticking with something that doesn’t work.”

Both also missed several kicks during warmups for Saturday’s Kid’s Day Scrimmage. But they showed why this is such a close competition during the scrimmage.

Blom was eight-for-eight, ranging in distance from 28 to 53 yards. Stevens was seven-for-seven, including kicks of 50 and 53 yards.

Several weeks remain before the Sept. 3 opener against South Dakota State. Between now and then, Woods will be watching everything from technique to accuracy before making a decision.

“We’ll see how it shakes out,” he said.